A stronger than expected jobs report could further scramble an already uncertain picture for passing a fifth and possibly final coronavirus aid bill. The positive statistics are feeding the wait-and-see approach of the White House and its GOP allies in Congress.

Republicans say the numbers vindicate their decision to take a pause and assess the almost $3 trillion in assistance they already have approved. The White House was already showing little urgency about pursing another trillion-dollar response bill, much less the $3.5 trillion measure passed by the House last month, and prefers to concentrate on reopening the economy.Saturday, June 6, 2020

On a recent day, a powder-blue van parked curbside in Brooklyn, one of the hardest-hit communities in America by the coronavirus pandemic, and a group of women wearing protective face masks and gloves set to unloading.

Locals lined up, spaced out next to orange traffic cones on the sidewalk, waiting their turn to pick up much-needed free supplies that help them make it through what are tough times for the borough.

As the state prepares to ease some restrictions designed to limit the spread of the coronavirus, an Illinois State University professor who has been developing models of the pandemic since January is urging caution.

“Every model we look at agrees on one thing, . it is too soon to remove the lockdown measures,” said Olcay Akman, who also serves as editor in chief of “Letters in Biomathematics.” The peer-reviewed journal publishes mathematics and statistics research related to biological, ecological, medical, and environmental settings.Saturday, June 6, 2020

President Donald Trump rolled back protections Friday at a marine conservation area off the New England coast, signing an order to allow commercial fishing in a stretch of water environmentalists say is critical for endangered right whales and other fragile marine life.

Venezuelan authorities have jailed three local DirecTV executives under an arrest warrant issued after the Dallas-based company abruptly cut off services to the South American country last month, citing U.S. sanctions against the socialist government, the men’s lawyer said Friday.

Carlos Villamizar, one of the three men, told reporters in his attorney’s office before surrendering that he had no prior knowledge that the services were being ended and that he was innocent of any crimes.

“It was a total surprise,” he said, choking up with emotion over concern for his family and two young children. “I’m innocent.”Saturday, June 6, 2020

A black reporter from the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette was told she could not cover the city’s protests over the death of George Floyd because of a tweet, and now dozens of her colleagues, fellow journalists, her union and even the city’s mayor are speaking out in support of her.

On Friday the Newspaper Guild of Pittsburgh and many of her fellow reporters at the Post-Gazette were demanding that Alexis Johnson be allowed cover the protests, sending identical versions of the tweet themselves and using the hashtag (hash)IStandWithAlexis.

On Sunday, Johnson posted four photos that show trashed public spaces in the aftermath of a crowd.Saturday, June 6, 2020

He’s proved adept at taking even the grimmest numbers and giving himself a pat on the back or relying on a creative use of data to make himself look good. But his declaration that an unexpected dip in the unemployment rate marked probably “the greatest comeback in American history” was a remarkable level of hyperbole even for him.Saturday, June 6, 2020

Amateur astronauts, private space stations, flying factories, out-of-this-world movie sets — this is the future the space agency is striving to shape as it eases out of low-Earth orbit and aims for the moon and Mars.

It doesn’t quite reach the fantasized heights of George Jetson and Iron Man, but still promises plenty of thrills.Saturday, June 6, 2020

A re-energized Tropical Storm Cristobal advanced toward the U.S. Gulf Coast early Saturday, bringing with it the heavy rains that already caused flooding and mudslides in Mexico and Central America.

After weakening to a tropical depression while moving over land in Mexico’s Gulf coast, Cristobal headed back into the southern Gulf of Mexico from the Yucatan Peninsula on Friday and powered back up into a tropical storm. Forecasters said it would arrive on U.S. soil late Sunday but was not expected to grow into a hurricane.Saturday, June 6, 2020

The essence of war remembrance is to make sure the fallen are never forgotten. All it takes is a wreath, a tiny wooden cross, a little token on a faraway grave to show that people still care about their fallen hero, parent or grandparent.

This year, though, the pandemic stepped in, barring all travel for families to visit the World War II graves in France's Normandy, where Saturday marks the 76th anniversary of the epic D-Day battle, when allied troops successfully stormed the beaches and turned the war against the Nazis.

So anguished families turned to the next best thing — an Englishman living on D-day territory, a pensioner with a big heart and a small hole in his agenda.Saturday, June 6, 2020

Before the COVID-19 pandemic hit, the National WWII Museum in New Orleans was planning on a 20th anniversary crowd of thousands. Now it’s working to avoid crowds by selling a limited number of scheduled tickets and holding all anniversary commemorations - including an annual D-Day morning ceremony - online.

The museum opened June 6, 2000, as the National D-Day Museum and was designated the national World War II museum a few years later. Last June 6, the landing’s 75th anniversary, it logged 3,200 visitors.

With the date falling on a Saturday this year, “we could have had as many as 5,000 visitors,” president and CEO Stephen Watson said Tuesday.Friday, June 5, 2020

The two black SUVs travel from checkpoint to checkpoint, each guarded by federal drug enforcement agents alongside members of the National Guard.

Just down the street from the White House, acting Drug Enforcement Administrator Timothy Shea hops out to greet his agents who have been working 12- to 14-hour shifts to prevent any more of the violence that has erupted in Washington during protests over the police death of George Floyd in Minneapolis.Friday, June 5, 2020

U.S. unemployment dropped unexpectedly in May to 13.3% as reopened businesses began recalling millions of workers faster than economists had predicted, triggering a rally today on Wall Street and giving President Donald Trump something to boast about amid his reelection bid.Friday, June 5, 2020

Several authors of a large study that raised safety concerns about malaria drugs for coronavirus patients have retracted the report, saying independent reviewers were not able to verify information that’s been widely questioned by other scientists.

Thursday’s retraction in the journal Lancet involved a May 22 report on hydroxychloroquine and chloroquine, drugs long used for preventing or treating malaria but whose safety and effectiveness for COVID-19 are unknown.Friday, June 5, 2020

All too many have been, for 76 years since that fateful June 6 on France’s Normandy beaches, when allied troops in 1944 turned the course of World War II and went on to defeat fascism in Europe in one of the most remarkable feats in military history.

Forgotten they will never be. Revered, yes. But Saturday’s anniversary will be one of the loneliest remembrances ever, as the coronavirus pandemic is keeping almost everyone away — from government leaders to frail veterans who might not get another chance for a final farewell to their unlucky comrades.

Rain and wind are also forecast, after weeks of warm, sunny weather.Friday, June 5, 2020

Mourners converged in Minneapolis today for the first in a series of a memorials to George Floyd, whose death at the hands of police has sparked turbulent protests around the world against racial injustice.

The afternoon event was set for North Central University, where the civil rights leader the Rev. Al Sharpton was scheduled to be among those eulogizing the 46-year-old Floyd.Thursday, June 4, 2020

Nearly 1.9 million people applied for U.S. unemployment benefits last week, evidence that many employers are still cutting jobs even as the gradual reopening of businesses has slowed the pace of layoffs.

The total number of people who are receiving jobless aid rose slightly to 21.5 million, down from a peak of nearly 25 million two weeks ago but still at a historically high level. It shows that scattered rehiring is offsetting only some of the ongoing layoffs with the economy mired in a recession. Thursday’s latest weekly number from the Labor Department is still more than double the record high that prevailed before the viral outbreak.Thursday, June 4, 2020

No additional cases of the new coronavirus have been reported stemming from the crowded pool parties at Missouri’s Lake of the Ozarks over the Memorial Day weekend, the state’s top health official said.

Camden County Health Department reported Friday that a person from Boone County who had attended the parties tested positive for the virus.Thursday, June 4, 2020

Eric Pray is used to shipping seafood all over the country. But since the coronavirus took hold, he has shifted his focus closer to home — selling lobsters from a homemade tank in his garage.

Pray, of Portland, Maine, is one of hundreds of fishermen, farmers and food producers who have shifted to a direct-to-consumer model amid the virus outbreak. The pandemic has stressed and sometimes disrupted supply chains, shuttered restaurants and changed the way consumers buy food, leaving some producers scrambling for a new way to reach their customers.Thursday, June 4, 2020

With social distancing guidelines and mandates mostly lifted, people have begun to head back to beaches, parks and restaurants in many parts of the U.S. But you may ask: What’s so different now compared to the situation back when social distancing began in March and April? Coronavirus still lurks. Are we really safe?Thursday, June 4, 2020

As demonstrators flooded streets across America to decry the killing of George Floyd, public health experts watched in alarm — the close proximity of protesters and their failures in many cases to wear masks, along with the police using tear gas, could fuel new transmissions of the coronavirus.

Many of the protests broke out in places where the virus is still circulating widely in the population. In fact, an Associated Press review found that demonstrations have taken place in every one of the 25 U.S. communities with the highest concentrations of new cases. Some have seen major protests over multiple days, including Minneapolis-St. Paul, Chicago, Washington, D.C., and Los Angeles.Wednesday, June 3, 2020

At least a quarter of the COVID-19 deaths in the United States were among nursing home residents, a new report said, a disclosure that came as coronavirus restrictions eased Monday even as U.S. protests against police brutality sparked fears of new outbreaks.

The Florida Keys welcomed visitors for the first time in two months, the Colosseum opened its ancient doors in Rome, ferries restarted in Bangladesh and golfers played in Greece. But as tourist destinations worldwide reopened for business, new rules were in place to guard against the virus’ spread.

“Bring facial coverings, gloves, hand sanitizer, reef-safe sunscreen and personal essential medicines. If you’re feeling unwell, please stay home,” the Monroe County Tourist Development Council, which includes the tourist-dependent Keys, said on its website.Tuesday, June 2, 2020

President Donald Trump stepped up the pressure on governors to crack down after a week of unrest set off by the death of George Floyd, demanding New York call up the National Guard to stop the “lowlifes and losers.”

As cities around the U.S. have witnessed a seventh straight night of both peaceful demonstrations and bursts of theft, vandalism and attacks on police, the president amplified his hard-line calls of a day earlier, in which he threatened to send in the military to restore order if governors didn’t do it.Tuesday, June 2, 2020

The Congressional Budget Office said Monday that the U.S. economy could be $15.7 trillion smaller over the next decade than it otherwise would have been if Congress does not mitigate the economic damage from the coronavirus.

The CBO, which had already issued a report forecasting a severe economic impact over the next two years, expanded that forecast to show that the severity of the economic shock could depress growth for far longer.

The new estimate said that over the 2020-2030 period, total GDP output could be $15.7 trillion lower than CBO had been projecting as recently as January. That would equal 5.3% of lost GDP over the coming decade.Tuesday, June 2, 2020

Police say four officers were hit by gunfire after protests in St. Louis that started peacefully Monday and became violent overnight, with demonstrators smashing windows and stealing items from businesses and fires burning in the downtown area.Tuesday, June 2, 2020

If you get COVID-19 and struggle to breathe, would you want to be put on a ventilator? Whatever your answer, ask yourself another question: Who would make your wishes clear if you couldn’t speak for yourself?

Advance directives — an umbrella term that includes living wills and health care proxies or powers of attorney — are legal documents that all of us need but that many of us don’t have. A living will allows you to tell your loved ones and medical providers what kinds of medical care you want at the end of your life. Health care proxies or powers of attorney allow you to designate someone to make medical decisions for you if you can’t communicate.Tuesday, June 2, 2020

The Florida Keys reopened for visitors Monday after the tourist-dependent island chain was closed for more than two months to prevent the spread of the coronavirus.

As the Keys took down barriers, Miami-Dade County decided to keep its beaches closed because of protests in South Florida and across the country over the May 25 death of George Floyd in Minneapolis.

Roadblocks were taken down shortly after midnight near Key Largo, the northernmost island in the chain. Almost half of all workers in the Keys are employed by hotels, bars and other hospitality industries, and many of the rest are involved in commercial and sport fishing.Monday, June 1, 2020

President Donald Trump on Monday derided the nation’s governors as “weak” and demanded tougher crackdowns on protesters in the aftermath of another night of violent protests in dozens of American cities.

Trump spoke to governors on a video teleconference with law enforcement and national security officials, telling the local leaders they “have to get much tougher” amid nationwide protests and criticizing their responses.

“Most of you are weak,” Trump said. “You have to arrest people.”Monday, June 1, 2020

The Supreme Court is declining to revive a lawsuit by supporters of Sen. Bernie Sanders who sued the Democratic National Committee in 2016 over claims officials improperly tipped the scales for Hillary Clinton during the nominating process.

The justices said Monday they would not take up the lawsuit. As is usual the court did not comment in turning away the case.Monday, June 1, 2020

Democratic lawmakers are raising questions about the federal Bureau of Prisons’ release of high-profile inmates and are calling for widespread testing of federal inmates as the number of coronavirus cases has exploded in the federal prison system.

Sen. Kamala Harris and Rep. Hakeem Jeffries sent a letter Monday to Attorney General William Barr and Bureau of Prisons Director Michael Carvajal over the home confinement policies. They expressed concern that a number of high-profile inmates, including former Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort and former Trump lawyer and fixer Michael Cohen, had been released despite not meeting all the criteria that the agency has set for inmates prioritized for home confinement.

“As President Trump’s associates are cleared for transfer, tens of thousands of low-risk, vulnerable individuals are serving their time in highly infected prisons,” the lawmakers wrote.Monday, June 1, 2020

American factories slowed for the third consecutive month in May as they continued to sustain economic damage from the coronavirus pandemic.

The Institute for Supply Management, an association of purchasing managers, said Monday that its manufacturing index came in at 43.1 last month after registering 41.5 in April. Anything below 50 signals that U.S. manufacturers are in retreat. New orders, production, hiring and new export orders all fell in May but at a slower pace than they did in April.Monday, June 1, 2020

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — As if trips to the grocery store weren’t nerve-racking enough, U.S. shoppers lately have seen the costs of meat, eggs and even potatoes soar as the coronavirus has disrupted processing plants and distribution networks.Saturday, May 30, 2020

ATLANTA (AP) — Protesters burned businesses in Minneapolis. They smashed police cars and windows in Atlanta, broke into police headquarters in Portland, Oregon, and chanted curses at President Donald Trump outside the White House. Thousands also demonstrated peacefully, demanding justice for George Floyd, a black man who died after a white officer pressed a knee into his neck.Saturday, May 30, 2020

WASHINGTON (AP) — Grim employment and spending numbers darkened the prospects for a speedy recovery in the U.S. as the economic devastation from the coronavirus pandemic continues to spread, even as states moved to reopen more sectors.Saturday, May 30, 2020

MIDLAND, Mich. (AP) — Christopher Jue knew he was home the moment he and his wife stepped inside the sprawling 62-year-old ranch with brick floors, a sunken living room and built-in desks, shelves and bureaus — hallmarks of an Alden B. Dow original.Saturday, May 30, 2020

PARIS (AP) — Dining at a table where each person is enclosed by a clear plastic shield might look and sound futuristic, but it could be one way for some restaurants to reopen. It also might help out if your companion orders escargots, heavy on the garlic.Saturday, May 30, 2020

NANYUKI, Kenya (AP) Virtual safaris are helping to distract people under coronavirus lockdowns while attracting badly needed support for African wildlife parks hit hard by the disappearance of tourists.Saturday, May 30, 2020

GUILFORD, Conn. (AP) — A small cruise company says it plans to be the first to begin cruising again on U.S. waters since the coronavirus pandemic caused cruise ships to be anchored across the globe.Saturday, May 30, 2020

WASHINGTON (AP) — Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell acknowledged today that the Fed faces a major challenge with the launch in the coming days of a program through which the Fed will lend directly to private companies for the first time since the Great Depression.Friday, May 29, 2020

Pay for chief executives rose to a median of $12.3 million last year, including salary, stock and other compensation. Median means half were larger, and half were smaller.

Compensation often includes stock and option grants that the CEO may not receive for years unless certain performance measures are met. For some companies, big raises occur when CEOs get a stock or option grant in one year as part of a multi-year grant.Thursday, May 28, 2020

Mohammad Altaf, the generous spirit. Eudiana Smith, the trailblazer. Servius Collin, the caretaker. All were taken by COVID-19. And in death, all were robbed of the funerals they deserved.

As the coronavirus pandemic worked its way toward 100,000 U.S. deaths, a wave of shaken families has had to honor the dead apart and in small groups during an era of social distancing.Thursday, May 28, 2020

The House is moving to pass a bipartisan measure to modify a new “paycheck protection” program for businesses that have suffered COVID-related losses, giving them more flexibility to use federal subsidies for other costs and extending the program for four additional months.

The measure appeared sure to pass by a sweeping vote on Thursday. The compromise then heads to the Senate, where passage is likely next week. President Donald Trump is expected to sign it into law, though talks remain stalled on a much bigger measure to inject more than $3 trillion into the tumbling economy.Thursday, May 28, 2020

An estimated 2.1 million Americans applied for unemployment benefits last week despite the gradual reopening of businesses around the country, bringing the running total since the coronavirus shutdowns took hold in mid-March to about 41 million, the government said Thursday.Thursday, May 28, 2020

The U.S. surpassed a jarring milestone Wednesday in the coronavirus pandemic: 100,000 deaths.

That number is the best estimate and most assuredly an undercount. But it represents the stark reality that more Americans have died from the virus than from the Vietnam and Korean wars combined.Thursday, May 28, 2020

Suddenly out of work or making due with reduced paychecks, an estimated 4.1 million Americans have sought forbearance on their mortgage, according to data released Monday by the Mortgage Bankers Association. That’s a staggering number, and experts anticipate more homeowners will seek this protection as the economic impact of the coronavirus wears on.

A forbearance hits the pause button on mortgage payments. As part of its massive economic rescue package for the economy, Congress made it easier for homeowners to enter a forbearance plan and regain their financial footing.

Still, there are considerations for homeowners. Eventually the money must be paid, and homeowners with federally back loans have some advantages over those with private mortgages.Thursday, May 28, 2020

Deadlocked over the next big coronavirus relief bill, Congress is shifting its attention to a more modest overhaul of small-business aid in hopes of helping employers reopen shops and survive the pandemic.

Bipartisan legislation that would give small employers more time to take advantage of federal subsidies for payroll and other costs is expected to pass the House this week, as lawmakers return to Washington for an abbreviated two-day session.Wednesday, May 27, 2020

The fraught, freighted number of this particular American moment is a round one brimming with zeroes: 100,000. A hundred thousands. A thousand hundreds. Five thousand score. More than 8,000 dozen. All dead.

This is the week when America’s official coronavirus death toll reaches six digits. One hundred thousand lives wiped out by a disease unknown to science a half a year ago.Wednesday, May 27, 2020

In the rubble of buildings and lives, modern U.S. presidents have met national trauma with words such as these: “I can hear you.” “You have lost too much, but you have not lost everything.” “We have wept with you; we’ve pulled our children tight.”

As diverse as they were in eloquence and empathy, George W. Bush, Bill Clinton and Barack Obama each had his own way of piercing the noise of catastrophe and reaching people.Wednesday, May 27, 2020

Most Medicare recipients will have access to prescription plans next year that limit their copays for insulin to no more than $35 a month, potentially saving hundreds of dollars, the Trump administration announced today.

The new benefit is being touted as a major accomplishment by Trump administration officials eager to change the subject from the grim drumbeat of coronavirus pandemic news.Tuesday, May 26, 2020

Stocks surged on Wall Street in morning trading today, driving the S&P 500 to its highest level in nearly three months, as hopes for economic recovery overshadow worries about the coronavirus pandemic.

The S&P 500 was up 2% to 3,015 points. It’s the first time the benchmark index has been above the 3,000-point mark since March 5, before the widespread business shutdowns aimed at slowing the spread of the outbreak sent the U.S. economy into a sharp skid.Tuesday, May 26, 2020

Congress is at a crossroads in the coronavirus crisis, wrestling over whether to “go big,” as House Speaker Nancy Pelosi wants for the next relief bill, or hit “pause,” as Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell insists.

It’s a defining moment for the political parties heading toward the election and one that will affect the livelihoods of countless Americans suddenly dependent on the federal government. Billions of dollars in state aid, jobless benefits and health resources are at stake. As questions mount over Washington’s proper role, it’s testing the ability of President Donald Trump and Congress to do the right thing.Tuesday, May 26, 2020

Public pools will look very different this summer if they open at all with the coronavirus threat still looming, as teenage lifeguards will be tasked with maintaining social distancing and spotting COVID-19 symptoms in addition to their primary responsibility of preventing drownings.Tuesday, May 26, 2020

As food banks have struggled to meet soaring demand from people suddenly out of work because of the coronavirus pandemic, it has been especially troubling to see farmers have to bury produce, dump milk and euthanize hogs.

Now some states are providing more money to help pay for food that might otherwise go to waste, the U.S. Agriculture Department is spending $3 billion to help get farm products to food banks, and a senator is seeking $8 billion more to buy farm produce for food banks.Monday, May 25, 2020

States are spending billions of dollars stocking up on medical supplies such as masks and breathing machines during the coronavirus pandemic. But more than two months into the buying binge, many aren’t sharing details about how much they’re spending, what they’re getting for their money or which companies they’re paying.

An Associated Press survey of all 50 states found a hodgepodge of public information about the purchase of masks, gloves, gowns and other hard-to-get equipment for medical and emergency workers.Monday, May 25, 2020

With more people than ever staying home to lessen the spread of COVID-19, their sedans, pickup trucks and SUVs are parked unattended on the streets, making them easy targets for opportunistic thieves.Monday, May 25, 2020

A huge fire that tore through a warehouse on San Francisco’s Fisherman’s Wharf has destroyed fishing gear used to deliver about two-thirds of the city’s fresh seafood, threatening to disrupt the upcoming Dungeness crab season, local fishermen said Sunday.

The fire erupted before dawn Saturday and wiped out the warehouse the size of a football field near the end of Pier 45.Monday, May 25, 2020

Former Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick is being quarantined at a federal prison while awaiting a likely release in June, which would be years before he was scheduled to finish his 28-year sentence for corruption, a pastor said Friday.

The U.S. Bureau of Prisons declined to comment about Kilpatrick, saying only that he remains in custody at the prison in Oakdale, Louisiana. U.S. Attorney Matthew Schneider in Detroit said he wasn’t aware of any plans to release Kilpatrick.Saturday, May 23, 2020

Time is running out on an arms control treaty that, if it’s allowed to expire, will leave the world with no legal restrictions on U.S. and Russian nuclear weapons for the first time in nearly half a century.

If President Donald Trump doesn’t extend the New Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty — only remaining U.S.-Russia arms control pact — or succeed in negotiating a replacement treaty, it will expire on Feb. 5. That’s just 16 days after Trump begins a second term or his successor is sworn into office.Saturday, May 23, 2020

Despite an economy decimated by shutdowns due to the coronavirus pandemic, the Illinois House is poised to consider a $42.64 billion operating budget for next year, a 6.8% increase over current spending that is heavily reliant on federal assistance.

The governor’s stay-at-home order aimed at slowing the spread of the coronavirus left shops closed and more than 1 million Illinois residents out of work. But Democrats who control the General Assembly expect $36.96 billion in revenue for the fiscal year that begins July 1, Majority Leader Greg Harris said. That would leave a $5.8 billion hole lawmakers would look to Washington to fill.Saturday, May 23, 2020

The Estero, Florida-based company’s lenders were unwilling to grant it another extension on its auto lease debt payments past a Friday deadline, triggering the filing in U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Delaware.Saturday, May 23, 2020

That vision, Elon Musk’s vision, morphed into a shake-up of the old space industry, and a fleet of new private rockets. Now, those rockets will launch NASA astronauts from Florida to the International Space Station — the first time a for-profit company will carry astronauts into the cosmos.Saturday, May 23, 2020

Joe Biden, the presumptive Democratic presidential nominee, had a testy exchange with a prominent black radio personality on Friday over Biden’s support among black voters and his choosing of a running mate.

Charlamagne Tha God pressed Biden on reports that he is considering Minnesota Sen. Amy Klobuchar, who is white, to be vice president and told him black voters “saved your political life in the primaries“ and “have things they want from you.”Friday, May 22, 2020

In ordinary times, the beaches and roads along Florida’s Space Coast would be packed with hundreds of thousands of spectators, eager to witness the first astronaut launch from Florida in nine years.

In the age of coronavirus, local officials and NASA are split on whether that’s a good idea.

NASA and SpaceX are urging spectators to stay at home next Wednesday for safety reasons. Officials in Brevard County, home to the Kennedy Space Center, are rolling out the welcome mat in an effort to jump-start a tourism industry hit hard this spring by coronavirus-related lockdowns.Friday, May 22, 2020

The number of Americans applying for unemployment benefits in the two months since the coronavirus took hold in the U.S. has swelled to nearly 39 million, the government reported Thursday, even as states from coast to coast gradually reopen their economies and let people go back to work.

More than 2.4 million people filed for jobless aid last week in the latest wave of layoffs from the outbreak that has triggered nationwide business shutdowns and brought the economy to its knees, the Labor Department said. That brings the running total to a staggering 38.6 million, a job-market collapse unprecedented in its speed.Thursday, May 21, 2020

The image is striking: Fans watching a college football game in the midst of a pandemic, wearing masks with a smidge of social distance between them on row after row of bleacher seats.

The photo is 102 years old.

The Georgia Tech alumni Twitter feed posted a black-and-white photo of the scene at Grant Field in 1918. Decades before tailgates, prime-time kickoffs and billions in program-supporting TV money, the ethos of the die-hard college football fan was not much different than today: Risks be damned, we’re going to the game.Thursday, May 21, 2020

Like you, I’ve been locked away at home for two months. But for me, not much has changed.

It’s true that I don’t go the grocery store in person like I used to. I don’t grab brunch with friends, go to the gym, volunteer with a grief support group or pop in for a coffee or ice cream anymore. But overall, the pandemic hasn’t disrupted my routine too dramatically.Thursday, May 21, 2020

The rate of fatal automobile crashes in the U.S. jumped dramatically in March, even though the number of miles driven plummeted due to coronavirus stay-home orders.

The National Safety Council said today that based on preliminary figures from states, the number of fatal crashes per 100 million miles driven rose an “alarming” 14% compared with March of 2019.

The group pointed to anecdotal reports from states of an increase in reckless driving and speeding due to nearly traffic-free highways during shutdowns that were in effect in March, the latest month for which statistics are available.Wednesday, May 20, 2020

Before COVID-19 killed thousands of nursing home residents, about 4 in 10 homes inspected were cited for infection control problems, according to a government watchdog report that found a “persistent” pattern of lapses.

In light of the pandemic, seemingly minor cutting of corners such as an employee caring for residents while battling a cold has taken on new significance.Wednesday, May 20, 2020

Employees at a Smithfield pork processing plant in South Dakota where a coronavirus outbreak infected over 800 people were greeted at work today with thank you signs, cheers and waves from about a dozen area residents.

“They’re putting their health at risk just like the hospital workers are to continue on with this work, so I hope they feel appreciated,” said Becky Olson, a Sioux Falls resident who held a sign outside Smithfield’s entrance.Wednesday, May 20, 2020

Oprah Winfrey is giving grants to the cities she’s called home through her $12 million coronavirus relief fund.

She announced Wednesday that her Oprah Winfrey Charitable Foundation will donate money to organizations dedicated to helping underserved communities in Chicago; Baltimore; Nashville, Tennessee; Milwaukee; and Kosciusko, Mississippi, where she was born.Wednesday, May 20, 2020

U.S. births continued to fall last year, leading to the fewest number of newborns in 35 years.

The decline is the latest sign of a prolonged national “baby bust” that’s been going on for more than a decade. And some experts believe the coronavirus pandemic and its impact on the economy will suppress the numbers further.Wednesday, May 20, 2020

An antibody test might show if you had COVID-19 in the recent past, which most experts think gives people some protection from the virus. The tests are different from the nasal swab tests that determine if you’re currently sick.Wednesday, May 20, 2020

The White House hurried Tuesday to defend President Donald Trump’s decision to take a malaria drug to protect against the coronavirus, despite warnings from his own government that it should only be administered for COVID-19 in a hospital or research setting due to potentially fatal side effects.Tuesday, May 19, 2020

More than three weeks after Brandon Bell stopped showing up at a New York office that serves people with schizophrenia, employees finally located him at a nearby homeless shelter.

The office remains open, but patients aren’t stopping by as much during the pandemic. Group activities such as the weekly Caribbean lunch that were also an important source of food have ended because of the coronavirus. Visits from caregivers are less frequent and shorter — usually five or 10 minutes — to reduce the risk of infection.

When a caregiver recently checked on him, Bell noted that life before the pandemic was happier and “more social.”Tuesday, May 19, 2020

The FBI has found a link between the gunman in a deadly attack at a military base last December and an al-Qaida operative, a U.S. official said Monday.

Attorney General William Barr and FBI Director Chris Wray were set to hold a news conference to announce developments in the shooting late last year at the Pensacola Naval Air Station, in which a Saudi Air Force officer killed three U.S. sailors and injured eight other people.Monday, May 18, 2020

The World Health Organization bowed to calls Monday from most of its member states to launch an independent evaluation of how it managed the international response to the coronavirus, which has been clouded by finger-pointing between the U.S. and China over a pandemic that has killed over 300,000 people and leveled the global economy.

The “comprehensive evaluation,“ sought by a coalition of African, European and other countries, is intended to review “lessons learned” from WHO’s coordination of the global response to COVID-19, but would stop short of looking into contentious issues such as the origins of the new coronavirus. U.S. President Donald Trump has claimed he has proof suggesting the coronavirus originated in a lab in China while the scientific community has insisted all evidence to date shows the virus likely jumped into humans from an animal.Monday, May 18, 2020

Europe reopened more widely on Monday, allowing people into the Acropolis in Greece, shops in Italy, markets and museums in Belgium, golf courses in Ireland and beer gardens in Bavaria while its leaders discussed how to salvage hallowed summer vacations.Monday, May 18, 2020

Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell expressed optimism Sunday that the U.S. economy can begin to recover from a devastating recession in the second half of the year, assuming the coronavirus doesn’t erupt in a second wave. But he suggested that a full recovery won’t likely be possible before the arrival of a vaccine.

In an interview with CBS’s “60 Minutes,“ Powell noted that the economy was fundamentally healthy before the virus struck suddenly and forced widespread business shutdowns and tens of millions of layoffs. Once the outbreak has been contained, he said, the economy should be able to rebound “substantially.”Monday, May 18, 2020

Life-threatening surf and rip currents will spread along U.S. East coast beaches in the days ahead as Tropical Storm Arthur kicks up ocean swells offshore, the National Hurricane Center warned on Monday.

It’s another early start for the Atlantic hurricane season: Arthur formed Saturday in waters off Florida, marking the sixth straight year that a named storm has developed before June 1.Monday, May 18, 2020

A 5-year-old boy and a woman drowned in the backyard pool of former Los Angeles Dodgers player Carl Crawford’s Houston home, according to reports.

Houston police were called about 2:40 p.m. Saturday for a reported drowning at a north Houston home that property and business records list as belonging to Crawford, The Houston Chronicle reports.Monday, May 18, 2020

WASHINGTON (AP) — Democrats powered a massive $3 trillion coronavirus relief bill through the House on Friday, an election-year measure designed to brace a U.S. economy in free fall and a health care system struggling to contain a pandemic still pummeling the country.Saturday, May 16, 2020

NEW YORK (AP) — Astrid Kirchherr, the German photographer who shot some of the earliest and most striking images of the Beatles and helped shape their trend-setting visual style, has died at age 81.Saturday, May 16, 2020

NEW HAMPSHIRE — Herds of goats abandoning their habitat in the Great Orme headland and wandering into the Welsh coastal town of Llandudno. Bobcats and ravens spotted in parts of Yosemite that just weeks ago were the province only of humans. A coyote appearing in the backyard of a suburban home in Westchester County, New York. The endangered least tern and snowy plovers turning up in Southern California, where whimbrels and ring-billed gulls are making unusual appearances.Saturday, May 16, 2020

(AP) — Since the coronavirus pandemic has led to a surge in interest in gardening, especially vegetable gardening, some seed companies are having trouble keeping up with demand. But one thing we gardeners can do is grow and save our own seeds.Saturday, May 16, 2020

AUSTIN, Texas (AP) — Two weeks into the reopening of Texas, coronavirus cases are climbing. New outbreaks still crop up. And at Guero’s Taco Bar in Austin, which offers the occasional celebrity sighting, a log of every diner and where they sat is begrudgingly in the works.Friday, May 15, 2020

WASHINGTON (AP) — The head of the Food and Drug Administration said today his agency has provided new guidance to the White House after data suggested that a rapid COVID-19 test used by President Donald Trump and others every day may provide inaccuracies and false negatives.Friday, May 15, 2020

European governments promised more relief to their citizens on Thursday as a top U.S. immunologist told Congress that America faces its “darkest winter in modern history” unless leaders act decisively to prevent a rebound of the coronavirus.Thursday, May 14, 2020

Access to the southern half of Yellowstone National Park will resume Monday by way of Wyoming but park officials continue to talk with Montana officials about reopening the rest of the park after a seven-week closure due to the coronavirus, Superintendent Cam Sholly said Wednesday.

The partial reopening comes as other national parks, including busy Great Smoky Mountains in Tennessee and North Carolina and Rocky Mountain in Colorado, begin or prepare to raise their gates at the urging of President Donald Trump.Thursday, May 14, 2020

President Donald Trump says the coronavirus pandemic highlights the importance of U.S. manufacturing and moving supply chains out of China, as he blamed that country anew for not doing enough to slow the pandemic.

“These stupid supply chains that are all over the world — we have a supply chain where they’re made in all different parts of the world,” Trump said in an interview with Fox Business’ Maria Bartiromo that aired Thursday. “And one little piece of the world goes bad and the whole thing is messed up.”Thursday, May 14, 2020

They carry high-powered rifles and wear tactical gear, but their Hawaiian shirts and leis are what stand out in the crowds that have formed at state capital buildings to protest COVID-19 lockdown orders. The signature look for the “boogaloo” anti-government movement is designed to get attention.

The loose movement, which uses an ’80s movie sequel as a code word for a second civil war, is among the extremists using the armed protests against stay-at-home orders as a platform. Like other movements that once largely inhabited corners of the internet, it has seized on the social unrest and economic calamity caused by the pandemic to publicize its violent messages.Thursday, May 14, 2020

The coronavirus pandemic has thrown tens of millions of people into financial turmoil. But not everyone is feeling the pinch. Not yet, at least.

Roughly a quarter of Americans (24%) said the coronavirus crisis has not impacted their financial situation, according to a survey conducted April 10-12 by J.D. Power. But that figure could change as more companies cut salaries, halt 401(k) match programs and announce layoffs while they struggle to adjust to the new normal.Thursday, May 14, 2020

Vehicle sales hit a record low in April as most Americans stayed home and countless dealerships closed due to the coronavirus crisis. But as a number of businesses begin to open, those who are in need of a vehicle may find that this may be a good time to shop.

A used vehicle purchase, in particular, is something to consider. Buying used allows you to get more features for your money when compared to a new car. The hardest part is finding a good one.Thursday, May 14, 2020

In an interview with AP, Pelosi acknowledged the proposal is a starting point in negotiations with President Donald Trump and Republicans, who have flatly dismissed the coronavirus relief bill headed for a House vote.Wednesday, May 13, 2020

Paul Manafort, Donald Trump’s onetime presidential campaign chairman who was convicted as part of the special counsel’s Russia investigation, has been released from federal prison to serve the rest of his sentence in home confinement due to concerns about the coronavirus, his lawyer said Wednesday.

Manafort, 71, was let out Wednesday morning from FCI Loretto, a low-security prison in Pennsylvania, according to his attorney, Todd Blanche. Manafort, jailed since June 2018, had been serving more than seven years in prison following his conviction.Wednesday, May 13, 2020

Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell warned today of the threat of a prolonged recession resulting from the viral outbreak and urged Congress and the White House to act further to prevent long-lasting economic damage.

The Fed and Congress have taken far-reaching steps to try to counter what is likely to be a severe downturn resulting from the widespread shutdown of the U.S. economy. But Powell cautioned that numerous bankruptcies among small businesses and extended unemployment for many people remain a serious risk.Wednesday, May 13, 2020

Amber Dean had recovered from a mild bout of the coronavirus and her family of five had just ended their home quarantine when her oldest son, 9-year-old Bobby, fell ill.

“At first it was nothing major, it seemed like a tummy bug, like he ate something that didn’t agree with him,” said Dean, who lives with her husband and three young children in the western New York town of Hornell. “But by the next day, he couldn’t keep anything down and his belly hurt so bad he couldn’t sit up.”Wednesday, May 13, 2020

The virus that has sickened over 4 million people around the world and killed more than 280,000 others is so new that patients face considerable uncertainty about what they can expect in recovery and beyond.

“The short answer is that we’re still learning,” said Dr. Jay Varkey, an infectious disease specialist at Emory University in Atlanta. “What we know has been gathered mostly by anecdotal reports from COVID-19 survivors.”Wednesday, May 13, 2020

Justice Neil Gorsuch appeared today to be a pivotal vote for the proposition that a large chunk of eastern Oklahoma remains an American Indian reservation, a question the Supreme Court failed to resolve a year ago.

The justices heard arguments by phone in an appeal by a Native American man who claims state courts have no authority to try him for a crime committed on reservation land that belongs to the Muscogee (Creek) Nation.Monday, May 11, 2020

Before the coronavirus outbreak, Saundra Andringa-Meuer was a healthy 61-year-old mother of six who never smoked or drank alcohol. Then she became seriously ill with the disease after traveling from her Wisconsin home to help her son move from college.

She was hospitalized in March, ending up in a coma and on a ventilator for 14 days. Doctors told her family she had a slim chance to live. When she emerged, she was told she was the sickest COVID-19 patient they had seen survive.Monday, May 11, 2020

When Kristofer Goldsmith was discharged from the Army in 2007 he was in crisis.

He had been trained as a forward observer — the person who spots a target and gives coordinates to artillery — but when he got to Iraq, the then 19-year-old instead found himself photographing dead bodies for intelligence gathering. A suicide attempt before his second deployment triggered a less than honorable discharge and a long fight to gain honorable status after being diagnosed with PTSD.

Goldsmith credits the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs medical staff with saving his life.Monday, May 11, 2020

The U.S. unemployment rate hit 14.7% in April, the highest rate since the Great Depression, as 20.5 million jobs vanished in the worst monthly loss on record. The figures are stark evidence of the damage the coronavirus has done to a now-shattered economy. The losses reflect what has become a severe recession caused by sudden business shutdowns in nearly every industry. Almost all the job growth achieved during the 11-year recovery from the Great Recession has now been lost in one month.Saturday, May 9, 2020

Frustrated by scarce supplies and a chaotic marketplace amid the coronavirus outbreak, some U.S. governors are seeking to bolster their home-state production of vital medical and protective equipment to ensure a reliable long-term source for state stockpiles.

The efforts come as states have been competing against each other, the federal government, hospitals, emergency responders and even other countries to get items such as N95 masks, gloves, medical gowns and hand sanitizer — often paying higher-than-usual prices because of the high demand.Saturday, May 9, 2020

The coronavirus pandemic has canceled dozens of spring traditions, from college basketball’s Final Four to Easter Sunday services, but there’s one rite that’s going on largely unfettered — turkey hunting.

Every state except Alaska, which is the only state with no turkeys, hosts a spring turkey hunt each year. The birds, whose domesticated cousins grace Thanksgiving tables from Hawaii to Maine, are among America’s greatest conservation success stories.Saturday, May 9, 2020

The Players Coalition and dozens of professional athletes sent a letter Friday to Attorney General William Barr and FBI Director Christopher Wray requesting an immediate federal investigation into the shooting death of Ahmaud Arbery in Georgia.

The letter was also sent to Eric Dreiband, assistant attorney general for the civil rights division. It was signed by such sports stars as Tom Brady, Steve Kerr and Players Coalition co-founders Anquan Boldin and Malcolm Jenkins.Saturday, May 9, 2020

The U.S. unemployment rate hit 14.7% in April, a level last seen during the Great Depression, as 20.5 million jobs vanished in the worst monthly loss on record — stark evidence of how the coronavirus has brought the economy to its knees.

The breathtaking losses, reported by the Labor Department today, are certain to intensify the push-pull over how and when to ease the coast-to-coast shutdowns of factories, stores, offices and schools. And they undermine any effort by President Donald Trump to point to the strong economy as he runs for reelection.Friday, May 8, 2020

Wall Street rallied again today after a terrible, unprecedented report on the U.S. jobs market wasn’t quite as horrific as economists had forecast.

The S&P 500 climbed 1.1% in morning trading after the government said employers cut a record-setting 20.5 million jobs last month. While the number is a nightmare, it was slightly below the 21 million that economists told markets to brace for. Investors are also increasingly betting they won’t see another report that bad again because the number of workers filing for unemployment benefits has been slowly declining the last five weeks.Friday, May 8, 2020

Sandy Jensen’s customer-service job at a Sam’s Club in Fullerton, California, normally involves checking member ID cards at the door and answering questions. But the coronavirus has turned her into a kind of store sheriff.

Now she must confront shoppers who aren’t wearing masks and enforce social distancing measures such as limits on the number of people allowed inside. The efforts sometimes provoke testy customers.Friday, May 8, 2020

When the Great Smoky Mountains National Park becomes one of the country’s first national parks to reopen Saturday, some of its most popular trails will remain off limits.

Major roadways, most trails and some restroom facilities will be accessible, but it’s unclear when the Laurel Falls, Chimney Tops and Alum Cave trails will reopen, park spokeswoman Dana Soehn said. She said safety will be stressed as officials seek to follow federal and state guidelines to prevent the spread of the coronavirus.Friday, May 8, 2020

The Supreme Court on Thursday threw out the convictions of two political insiders involved in New Jersey’s “Bridgegate” scandal, saying that “not every corrupt act by state or local officials is a federal crime.”

The court said in a unanimous decision Thursday that the government had overreached in prosecuting two allies of then-New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, Bridget Kelly and Bill Baroni, for their roles in a political payback scheme that created massive traffic jam to punish a Democratic mayor who refused to endorse the Republican’s reelection. Kelly was Christie’s onetime deputy chief of staff. Baroni was a top Christie appointee to the Port Authority, the operator of the New York area’s bridges, tunnels, airports and ports.Thursday, May 7, 2020

Neiman Marcus has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection, the first department store chain to do so and the second major retailer to be toppled by the coronavirus pandemic.

The move by the 112-year-old storied luxury department store chain was announced Thursday and follows the bankruptcy filing by J.Crew on Monday. Experts believe there will be more to come even as there are moves to reopen businesses in parts of the country like Texas and Florida.Thursday, May 7, 2020

Dozens of U.S. children have been hospitalized with a serious inflammatory condition possibly linked with the coronavirus and first seen in Europe.

New York authorities announced Wednesday that 64 potential cases had been reported to the state. The advisory followed an alert earlier this week about 15 cases in New York City.

A few other U.S. children have been affected during the pandemic, including a 6-month-old infant in California diagnosed with COVID-19 and Kawasaki disease, a rare condition that causes swelling in blood vessels.Thursday, May 7, 2020

The decision to wear a mask in public is becoming a political statement — a moment to pick sides in a brewing culture war over containing the coronavirus.

While not yet as loaded as a “Make America Great Again” hat, the mask is increasingly a visual shorthand for a debate pitting those willing to follow health officials’ guidance and cover their faces against those who feel it violates their freedom or buys into a threat they think is overblown.Thursday, May 7, 2020

The coronavirus pandemic has significantly changed the way we live and conduct business in this country. Take, for instance, the act of terminating a vehicle lease.

Edmunds analysts had anticipated more than a million leased vehicles coming back to car dealerships this quarter. But due to countless shelter-in-place orders, many people will face the question of how to safely handle their vehicle’s lease return or whether they can return their vehicle at all.

Traditionally, lessees have to decide between either a) turning their lease vehicle in and leasing or buying a new vehicle or b) extending their existing lease for a fixed term or on a month-to-month basis.Wednesday, May 6, 2020

The Supreme Court heard arguments toay in a dispute involving Trump administration rules that would allow more employers who cite a religious or moral objection to opt out of providing no-cost birth control to women.

With arguments conducted by telephone because of the coronavirus pandemic, Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg joined in from the Maryland hospital where she was being treated for an infection caused by a gallstone. The court said she expected to be in the hospital for a day or two.

Justice Clarence Thomas kept up his streak of asking questions, a rarity for him, during the third day of phone arguments, with live audio available to the public.Wednesday, May 6, 2020

Two Russian doctors have died and one remains in the intensive care unit in serious condition after falling out of windows in hospitals under mysterious circumstances.

The tragic incidents last week made national headlines, with media reports saying all three have come under pressure from their superiors over working conditions amid the coronavirus pandemic.

In recent weeks, medical workers all over Russia have decried shortages of protective equipment and questionable infection control procedures that turned dozens of hospitals into virus hotbeds, with hundreds of doctors and nurses contracting the virus. Many said they have been threatened with dismissal or even prosecution for going public with their grievances.Wednesday, May 6, 2020

Coronavirus has more people addressing their end-of-life planning. And for those who haven’t, it’s a great time to take it on.

People are traditionally rather hesitant to take the steps that experts suggest — creating an advance directive, writing a will and more — in part because they don’t want to ponder their own mortality. But the coronavirus pandemic has sharpened awareness and focused concern on this front. Several estate attorneys, online legal service providers and life insurers say they’ve seen an uptick in interest since the coronavirus hit.Wednesday, May 6, 2020

The first thing Daniel Hsu noticed about the room was that there were no sharp edges. The walls were covered with beige rubber, the table wrapped in soft, grey leather. White blinds covered two barred windows.

Five surveillance cameras recorded his movements, and two guards kept constant, silent watch. They followed Hsu to the shower and stood beside him at the toilet.

Lights blazed through the night. If he rolled over on his mattress, guards woke him and made him turn his face toward a surveillance camera that recorded him as he slept. He listened for sounds of other prisoners — a door slamming, a human voice. But he heard only the occasional roar of a passing train.Wednesday, May 6, 2020

Former President Barack Obama will deliver a televised prime-time commencement address for the high school Class of 2020 during an hour-long event that will also feature LeBron James, Malala Yousafzai and Ben Platt, among others.

ABC, CBS, Fox and NBC will simultaneously air the special May 16 at 8 p.m. EDT along with more than 20 other broadcast and digital streaming partners, according to the announcement Tuesday from organizers.Wednesday, May 6, 2020

From the marbled halls of Italy to the wheat fields of Kansas, health authorities are increasingly warning that the question isn’t whether a second wave of coronavirus infections and deaths will hit, but when — and how badly.

In India, which partly relaxed its lockdown this week, health authorities scrambled Wednesday to contain an outbreak at a huge market. Hard-hit New York City shut down its subway system overnight for disinfection. Experts in Italy, which just began easing some restrictions, warned lawmakers that a new surge of virus infections and deaths is coming, and they urged intensified efforts to identify victims, monitor their symptoms and trace their contacts.Wednesday, May 6, 2020

The nation’s small businesses slashed more than 11 million jobs in April as they were forced to close or suffered steep revenue losses amid the coronavirus outbreak.

That report comes from payroll provider ADP, which counted the jobs lost at its business customers with under 500 workers. The smallest companies, those with fewer than 20 workers, cut nearly 3.4 million jobs and those with 20 to 49 employees cut 2.6 million.Wednesday, May 6, 2020

Alaska, Hawaii, Montana and Wyoming are among the least-populated states in the U.S., and not surprisingly have the lowest numbers of residents who have tested positive for the new coronavirus. But despite their small size, they scored big this spring when Congress pumped out direct federal aid to the states.

An Associated Press analysis shows those four, along with other small states, took in an out-sized proportion of the $150 billion in federal money that was designed to address coronavirus-related expenses, when measured by the number of positive tests for the COVID-19 disease.Tuesday, May 5, 2020

May 4, 2020 13:23

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi pressed ahead today with the next coronavirus aid, a sweeping $800 billion-plus package that is expected to be unveiled soon even as the House stays closed while the Senate reopens in the pandemic.

Key to any plan to reopen the economy, Democrats say, is robust testing. They are also expected to propose another round of direct cash aid for anxious Americans, funds for states to prevent layoffs and more money to shore up businesses in the stay-home economy.Tuesday, May 5, 2020

Rep. John Ratcliffe, President Donald Trump’s nominee to be director of national intelligence, pledged at his confirmation hearing today to deliver intelligence free of bias or political influence, even as skeptical Democrats repeatedly pressed the Texas Republican on whether he could stand up to the president and defend the agencies he would oversee.

The comments from Ratcliffe were aimed at quelling concerns that he would be swayed by political pressure from a president who has been openly dismissive of the government’s spy agencies and once derided them as being “run amok.“Tuesday, May 5, 2020

Despite a century’s progress in science, 2020 is looking a lot like 1918.

In the years between two lethal pandemics, one the misnamed Spanish flu, the other COVID-19, the world learned about viruses, cured various diseases, made effective vaccines, developed instant communications and created elaborate public-health networks.

Yet here we are again, face-masked to the max. And still unable to crush an insidious yet avoidable infectious disease before hundreds of thousands die from it.Tuesday, May 5, 2020

For the first time, a blood test has been shown to help detect many types of cancer in a study of thousands of people with no history or symptoms of the disease.

The test is still experimental. Even its fans say it needs to be improved and that the results are not ideal. Yet they show what benefits and drawbacks might come from using these gene-based tests, called liquid biopsies, in routine care — in this case, with PET scans to confirm or rule out suspected tumors.Tuesday, May 5, 2020

Pushing to reopen the economy, President Donald Trump insists that states can gradually lift lockdowns and still protect people from the coronavirus pandemic, even as he’s also suggesting U.S. deaths could reach 100,000.

The president, fielding questions from Americans Sunday night in a virtual town hall from the Lincoln Memorial, acknowledged valid fears on both sides of the issue. Some people are worried about getting sick; others are reeling from lost jobs and livelihoods.

Trump increased his projection for the total U.S. death toll to as many as 100,000 — up from the 60,000 figure he suggested just a few weeks ago. More than 67,000 Americans are confirmed dead from the virus, according to a Johns Hopkins database.Monday, May 4, 2020

An order for people to wear face coverings while in stores was reversed last week because it “went too far,“ Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine said Sunday.

DeWine reversed the order Tuesday, calling it “a bridge too far“ and saying face coverings were strongly recommended but would no longer be required. He repeated that language Sunday on ABC’s “This Week,” saying, “People were not going to accept the government telling them what to do.“Monday, May 4, 2020

U.S. officials believe China covered up the extent of the coronavirus outbreak — and how contagious the disease is — to stock up on medical supplies needed to respond to it, intelligence documents show.

Chinese leaders “intentionally concealed the severity” of the pandemic from the world in early January, according to a four-page Department of Homeland Security intelligence report dated May 1 and obtained by The Associated Press. The revelation comes as the Trump administration has intensified its criticism of China, with Secretary of State Mike Pompeo saying Sunday that that country was responsible for the spread of disease and must be held accountable.Monday, May 4, 2020

If you’ve lost your job or struggle to pay your debt, you may need to file for bankruptcy. If that’s the case, you should ignore some common financial advice and start thinking defensively.

The coronavirus pandemic that upended the economy is also expected to send unprecedented numbers of people and businesses to bankruptcy court. Millions are out of work, and economic disruptions could continue until a vaccine is widely available, something that may be more than a year away.Monday, May 4, 2020

The sisters at St. Clare’s Monastery in Sauk Rapids abide by the three vows taken by all nuns: poverty, chastity and obedience.

But they also take a vow of enclosure, meaning they spend their entire lives behind the high walls surrounding the monastery, leaving only for emergencies or medical appointments.

That means they are experts on staying put — so Gov. Tim Walz’s stay-at-home order doesn’t change their daily lives. But for those outside the monastery — whose lives are disrupted by the COVID-19 pandemic — the sisters have some sage words.Monday, May 4, 2020

The Ohio National Guard opened fire on unarmed college students during a war protest at Kent State University on May 4, 1970. Four students were killed, and nine others were injured. Not all of those hurt or killed were involved in the demonstration, which opposed the U.S. bombing of neutral Cambodia during the Vietnam War.

The confrontation, sometimes referred to as the May 4 massacre, was a defining moment for a nation sharply divided over the protracted war, in which more than 58,000 Americans died. It sparked a strike of 4 million students across the U.S., temporarily closing some 900 colleges and universities. The events also played a pivotal role, historians argue, in turning public opinion against the conflicts in Southeast Asia.Monday, May 4, 2020

On this day 60 years ago, a black man driving a white woman was pulled over in a traffic stop that would change the course of American history.

The incident was unknown to most at the time and has been largely forgotten. The man was Martin Luther King Jr., and his citation on May 4, 1960, led to him being sentenced, illegally, to a chain gang.

Georgia’s segregationist politicians sought to silence King before he could mobilize great masses of people. But it backfired as the mistreatment rocked the 1960 presidential race, prompting blacks to vote Democrat and help end Jim Crow laws in the Deep South.Monday, May 4, 2020

WASHINGTON (AP) — U.S. regulators on Friday allowed emergency use of the first drug that appears to help some COVID-19 patients recover faster, a milestone in the global search for effective therapies against the coronavirus.Saturday, May 2, 2020

WASHINGTON (AP) — Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden today categorically denied allegations from a former Senate staffer that he sexually assaulted her in the early 1990s, saying “this never happened.”Friday, May 1, 2020

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — After spending two decades raising pigs to send to slaughterhouses, Dean Meyer now faces the mentally draining, physically difficult task of killing them even before they leave his northwest Iowa farm.Friday, May 1, 2020

ILLINOIS — The Illinois Supreme Court announced today that the Illinois bar exam, originally scheduled for July 28-29, 2020, has been rescheduled to September 9-10, 2020, due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.Friday, May 1, 2020

URBANA — “Excellent information and speakers for people to listen to and ask questions for serious concerns on this new ‘invisible enemy.’ Blessings to all,” one viewer said. That’s a typical statement about the farmdocDaily Coronavirus and Ag webinar series, available twice a week at no cost to anyone who signs up.Friday, May 1, 2020

NEW YORK (AP) — America’s dogs are having their day as the coronavirus keeps many people at home more with their pets and spurs so much adoption and fostering that some shelters’ kennels have emptied.Friday, May 1, 2020

LOS ANGELES (AP) — The near shutdown of the economy in response to COVID-19 has reduced demand for commodities like oil, lumber and copper and triggered sharp drops in their prices, but some analysts predict the stage is set for a rebound.Thursday, April 30, 2020

WASHINGTON (AP) — Long-term mortgage rates tumbled to all-time lows this week as the economy continued to reel from the business and social shutdown spurred by the coronavirus pandemic.Thursday, April 30, 2020

WASHINGTON (AP) — More than 3.8 million laid-off workers applied for unemployment benefits last week as the U.S. economy slid further into a crisis that is becoming the most devastating since the 1930s.Thursday, April 30, 2020

WASHINGTON (AP) — U.S. intelligence agencies have concluded that the new coronavirus was “not manmade or genetically modified“ but say they are still examining whether the origins of the pandemic trace to contact with infected animals or an accident at a Chinese lab.Thursday, April 30, 2020

(NERDWALLET via AP) — So far, 2020 has been a year of disruption for many Americans. Finances and lives have been upended by the mental, physical and economic impacts of the coronavirus pandemic. And now, another threat looms: storm and wildfire season.Thursday, April 30, 2020

Banks are reporting a little more success in getting small business owners’ applications for coronavirus relief loans into government processing systems.

Bank industry groups said today that changes the Small Business Administration made in its procedures apparently are helping lenders trying to submit thousands of applications for $310 billion in loans.Wednesday, April 29, 2020

President Donald Trump took executive action to order meat processing plants to stay open amid concerns over growing coronavirus cases and the impact on the nation’s food supply.

The order signed Tuesday uses the Defense Production Act to classify meat processing as critical infrastructure to try to prevent a shortage of chicken, pork and other meat on supermarket shelves. Unions fired back, saying the White House was jeopardizing lives and prioritizing cold cuts over workers’ health.Wednesday, April 29, 2020

A biotech company said today its experimental drug has proved effective against the new coronavirus in a major U.S. government study that put it to a strict test.

Gilead Sciences’s remdesivir would be the first treatment to pass such a test against the virus, which has killed more than 218,000 people since it emerged late last year in China. Having a treatment could have a profound effect on the global pandemic, especially because health officials say any vaccine is likely a year or more away.Wednesday, April 29, 2020

Federal, state and local law enforcement are teaming up to create a new drug and organized crime task force in St. Louis, U.S. attorneys for the region announced Tuesday.

Officials say the goal of the Gateway Strike Force is to combine resources to investigate drug trafficking, murders and other crimes committed by gangs and cartels in the St. Louis area, both in Missouri and in nearby Illinois.Wednesday, April 29, 2020

Reversing course, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell said Wednesday he is “open” to considering additional funds for state and local governments in the next coronavirus relief bill as Democrats seek more than $500 billion to cover costs of police, fire and other front-line workers.

But McConnell insisted the new package must include federal liability protections from what he warned will be an “avalanche” of lawsuits against businesses that reopen during the pandemic.Wednesday, April 29, 2020

Unlike some germs, there’s no indication the coronavirus can spread through food, according to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.

“This is a respiratory virus, not a foodborne virus ... you can’t catch it from eating food,” says Michelle Danyluk at the University of Florida, which published tips on food safety amid the pandemic.Wednesday, April 29, 2020

At greater risk from COVID-19, some seniors now face added anxiety due to delays obtaining Medicare coverage.

Advocates for older people say the main problem involves certain applications for Medicare’s “Part B” coverage for outpatient care. It stems from the closure of local Social Security offices in the coronavirus pandemic.

Part B is particularly important these days because it covers lab tests, like ones for the coronavirus.Wednesday, April 29, 2020

The U.S. Coast Guard agrees that canopies and side curtains should be removed from amphibious tour vehicles known as stretch duck boats, according to documents released Tuesday following an investigation into a deadly accident two summers ago on a Missouri lake.Tuesday, April 28, 2020

The coronavirus could be a literal game changer once America’s casinos reopen.

Many decisions remain to be made. But prepare to have your temperature scanned at the door. Maybe a half or third of slot machines will work. Every other table could be closed, and there could even be plexiglass barriers between dealers and customers or separating slot machines.

Dealers and servers and customers — including those who smoke — all could be required to wear masks in many places.Tuesday, April 28, 2020

Businesses should close break rooms. Restaurants should consider disposable menus and plates. Schools should have students eat lunch in their classrooms.

These are some of the recommendations offered in new federal plans designed to help restaurants, schools, churches and businesses safely reopen as states look to gradually lift their coronavirus restrictions.Tuesday, April 28, 2020

Hotels and home-sharing companies are beefing up their cleaning efforts in order to soothe jittery travelers.

Hilton said Monday it’s teaming up with RB — which makes Lysol and Dettol disinfectants — and the Mayo Clinic to develop new cleaning procedures that will be in place by June. The news follows Marriott’s announcement last week that it’s creating a cleanliness council to develop new standards. Marriott’s council includes infectious disease specialists and an expert from EcoLab, which makes commercial cleaning products.Tuesday, April 28, 2020

Doctors in Britain, Italy, and Spain have been warned to look out for a rare inflammatory condition in children that is possibly linked to the new coronavirus.

Earlier this week, Britain’s Paediatric Intensive Care Society issued an alert to doctors noting that in the past three weeks, there has been an increase in the number of children with “a multi-system inflammatory state requiring intensive care” across the country. The group said there was “growing concern” that either a COVID-19 related syndrome was emerging in children or that a different, unidentified disease might be responsible.Tuesday, April 28, 2020

With tables wide apart and staff wearing masks, some Georgia restaurants reopened for limited dine-in service Monday as the state loosened more coronavirus restrictions, but many eateries remained closed amid concerns that serving in-house meals could put staff and customers at risk.

The dine-in service and movie screenings resumed after other businesses, including barbershops, gyms, tattoo shops and nail salons, were allowed to start seeing customers Friday. While many gratefully opened their doors after a monthlong closure, others did not feel ready yet and stayed closed. A similar mixed response played out Monday.Monday, April 27, 2020

Stocks around the world rose today as governments prepare to gradually lift restrictions they imposed on businesses to slow the sweep of the coronavirus pandemic.

The S&P 500 was up 1.2% in afternoon trading, at the start of a week chockablock with market-moving events. Several of the world’s largest central banks are meeting, including the Bank of Japan, which announced its latest stimulus measures to prop up markets.

A slew of the biggest U.S. companies are also scheduled to report how much profit they made in the first three months of 2020, including the handful that most heavily dictates how the market moves. More importantly, CEOs may also talk about how they see future conditions shaking out.Monday, April 27, 2020

The Supreme Court ruled Monday that insurance companies can collect $12 billion from the federal government to cover their losses in the early years of the health care law championed by President Barack Obama.

Insurers are entitled to the money under a provision of the “Obamacare” health law that promised the companies a financial cushion for losses they might incur by selling coverage to people in the marketplaces created by the health care law, the justices said by an 8-1 vote.Monday, April 27, 2020

The Supreme Court sidestepped a major decision on gun rights today in a dispute over New York City’s former ban on transporting guns.

The justices threw out a challenge from gun rights groups. It ruled that the city’s move to ease restrictions on taking licensed, locked and unloaded guns outside the city limits, coupled with a change in state law to prevent New York from reviving the ban, left the court with nothing to decide. The court asked a lower court to consider whether the city’s new rules still pose problems for gun owners.Monday, April 27, 2020

They long for what’s being lost: the ability to publicly question officials at committee hearings, to chat across the aisle, to speak from the House and Senate floor for all of America, and history, to hear.

Congress wants its voice back.

With no real plan to reopen Capitol Hill any time soon, the coronavirus shutdown poses an existential crisis that’s pushing Congress ever so reluctantly toward the 21st century option of remote legislating from home.Saturday, April 25, 2020

A federal judge has dismissed the city of St. Louis from a federal wrongful death lawsuit filed by the mother of a St. Louis police officer who was fatally shot by another officer during a Russian roulette-style game.

Officer Katlyn Alix died in January 2019 after she was shot by officer Nathaniel Hendren at his home while she was off duty and Hendren was supposed to be working.Saturday, April 25, 2020

A man who said he was fed up with racism against black people was convicted of killing four white men in a race-related rampage in California’s Central Valley, prosecutors announced Friday.

Kori Ali Muhammad was convicted by a Fresno County jury Wednesday of first-degree murder, second-degree murder, attempted murder and other crimes, the Fresno County district attorney’s office said.Saturday, April 25, 2020

The Latest on the coronavirus pandemic. The new coronavirus causes mild or moderate symptoms for most people. For some, especially older adults and people with existing health problems, it can cause more severe illness or death.Saturday, April 25, 2020

Cindy Parkhurst could have stayed home collecting most of her pay while the Ford plant where she normally works remains closed due to coronavirus fears.

Instead, she along with hundreds of workers at Ford, General Motors, Toyota and other companies has gone back to work to make face shields, surgical masks and ventilators in a wartime-like effort to stem shortages of protective gear and equipment.

“I didn’t give it a second thought,” said Parkhurst, 55, a tow motor driver who is now helping Ford and its partner 3M manufacture and ship respirators. “It’s a neat thing to do for the community, for the first responders who definitely need this kind of protective gear.”Saturday, April 25, 2020

President Donald Trump signed a $484 billion bill today to aid employers and hospitals under stress from the coronavirus pandemic that has killed more than 50,000 Americans and devastated broad swaths of the economy.

The bill is the latest effort by the federal government to help keep afloat businesses that have had to close or dramatically alter their operations as states try to slow the spread of the virus. Over the past five weeks, roughly 26 million people have filed for jobless aid, or about 1 in 6 U.S. workers.Friday, April 24, 2020

The outbreak of the coronavirus has dealt a shock to the global economy with unprecedented speed. Following are developments today related to the global economy, the work place and the spread of the virus.Friday, April 24, 2020

U.S. Attorney John C. Milhiser and Special Agent in Charge of the IRS-Criminal Investigation Chicago Field Office, Kathy A. Enstrom, are reminding the public to beware of possible scams related to economic impact payments made during the COVID-19 pandemic and continuing efforts to defraud the public.

Not only is there fraud related to the economic impact payments, but also, the Department of Justice is working in a cooperative effort with a number of private-sector companies, including internet domain providers and registrars. The effort has already disrupted hundreds of fraudulent websites that use domain names that include "covid19" or "coronavirus" to attract traffic to the fake site. In some cases, the fake sites purport to be run by or affiliated with public health organizations or agencies.Friday, April 24, 2020

However, there have been a few cases worldwide where animals likely got the virus from humans, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture and U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.Friday, April 24, 2020

Unemployment in the U.S. has swelled to levels last seen during the Great Depression of the 1930s, with 1 in 6 American workers thrown out of a job by the coronavirus.

More than 4.4 million laid-off workers applied for unemployment benefits last week, the government said Thursday. In all, roughly 26 million people — more than the population of the six biggest U.S. cities combined — have now filed for jobless aid in five weeks, an epic collapse that has raised the stakes in the debate over how and when to lift the state-ordered stay-at-home restrictions that have closed factories and other businesses from coast to coast.Thursday, April 23, 2020

Many Americans are struggling financially due to the coronavirus. A recent federal relief package makes it easier for people financially harmed by the coronavirus outbreak to tap into their retirement savings for cash by loosening rules for withdrawals and loans.

But should they use them?

Experts say it’s an option of last resort and should be done with great caution. A few things to consider first:Thursday, April 23, 2020

A once-bustling bar and grill tucked below a Michigan Avenue overpass famously inspired a “Saturday Night Live” skit starring John Belushi and Bill Murray. But the money the Billy Goat Tavern is losing during the coronavirus outbreak is no joke.

The tavern and millions of other shuttered businesses nationwide have turned to their insurers to help recoup their losses following state-mandate closures, which combined may exceed $300 billion a month. But insurers have widely rejected the claims, so the Billy Goat joined a growing line of businesses, including barbershops and casinos, suing insurers to force them to pay.Thursday, April 23, 2020

The more than $300 billion set aside to replenish the emergency loan program for small businesses impacted by the coronavirus pandemic is likely already all spoken for, banking industry groups said Wednesday.

The initial $349 billion set aside for the Paycheck Protection Program ran out on April 16, after being available for less than two weeks. The Senate has approved an additional $310 billion for the program, which the House of Representatives is expected to vote in favor of later this week.Thursday, April 23, 2020

Two pet cats in New York state have tested positive for the coronavirus, marking the first confirmed cases in companion animals in the United States, federal officials said Wednesday.

The cats, which had mild respiratory illnesses and are expected to recover, are thought to have contracted the virus from people in their households or neighborhoods, the U.S. Department of Agriculture and the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said.Thursday, April 23, 2020

President Donald Trump said today that he has ordered the Navy to “shoot down and destroy” any Iranian gunboats that harass U.S. ships, a directive that comes a week after the Navy reported a group of Iranian boats made “dangerous and harassing approaches” to American vessels in the Persian Gulf.

Trump did not cite a specific Iranian provocation in his tweet or provide details. Senior Pentagon officials gave no indication that Trump had directed a fundamental change in military policy on Iran.Wednesday, April 22, 2020

The financial conditions of the government’s two biggest benefits programs remain shaky, with Medicare projected to become insolvent in six years and Social Security on track to no longer be able to pay full benefits starting in 2035.

And that’s without accounting for the impact of the coronavirus, which is sure to impose further pressure on the two programs.Wednesday, April 22, 2020

Some small businesses that obtained a highly-coveted government loan say they won’t be able to use it to bring all their laid-off workers back, even though that is exactly what the program was designed to do.Wednesday, April 22, 2020

As people across the globe stay home to stop the spread of the new coronavirus, the air has cleaned up, albeit temporarily. Smog stopped choking New Delhi, one of the most polluted cities in the world, and India’s getting views of sights not visible in decades. Nitrogen dioxide pollution in the northeastern United States is down 30%. Rome air pollution levels from mid-March to mid-April were down 49% from a year ago. Stars seem more visible at night.Wednesday, April 22, 2020

U.S. health regulators on Tuesday OK’d the first coronavirus test that allows people to collect their own sample at home, a new approach that could help expand testing options in most states.

The test from LabCorp will initially only be available to health care workers and first responders under a doctor’s orders. The sample will still have to be shipped for processing back to LabCorp, which operates diagnostic labs throughout the U.S.Tuesday, April 21, 2020

This year’s Scripps National Spelling Bee has been canceled after organizers concluded there is “no clear path to safely set a new date in 2020” because of the coronavirus pandemic.

The decision, announced by Scripps this morning, means kids who are in eighth grade this year will miss their final opportunity to compete in the national finals. Scripps will not change eligibility requirements for next year’s bee, which is scheduled for June 1-3, 2021, at its longtime venue, a convention center outside Washington. The bee has always been open to kids through the eighth grade.Tuesday, April 21, 2020

Frustration is mounting as more families across the U.S. enter their second or even third week of distance learning — and some overwhelmed parents say it will be their last.

Amid the barrage of learning apps, video meet-ups and e-mailed assignments that pass as pandemic home school, some frustrated and exhausted parents are choosing to disconnect entirely for the rest of the academic year. Others are cramming all their children’s school work into the weekend or taking days off work to help their kids with a week’s worth of assignments in one day.Tuesday, April 21, 2020

During World War I, posters proclaiming “Food will win the war” encouraged Americans to grow victory gardens. A century later, home gardeners are returning to that idea in the fight against a global pandemic.

Backyard gardeners are coming together, mostly virtually, to learn and share stories on how to grow vegetables, fruits and flowers as the novel coronavirus raises fears about disruptions in food supplies and the cost of food in a down economy.Tuesday, April 21, 2020

The world is awash in oil, there’s little demand for it and we’re running out of places to put it.

That in a nutshell explains Monday’s strange and unprecedented action in the market for crude oil futures contracts, where traders essentially offered to pay someone else to deal with the oil they were due to have delivered next month.Tuesday, April 21, 2020

any symptoms, fueling hope that it will turn out to be much less lethal than originally feared.

While that’s clearly good news, it also means it’s impossible to know who around you may be contagious. That complicates decisions about returning to work, school and normal life.

In the last week, reports of silent infections have come from a homeless shelter in Boston, a U.S. Navy aircraft carrier, pregnant women at a New York hospital, several European countries and California.Tuesday, April 21, 2020

The Supreme Court ruled Monday that juries in state criminal trials must be unanimous to convict a defendant, settling a quirk of constitutional law that had allowed divided votes to result in convictions in Louisiana and Oregon.

Justice Neil Gorsuch wrote for the court that the practice is inconsistent with the Constitution’s right to a jury trial and that it should be discarded as a vestige of Jim Crow laws in Louisiana and racial, ethnic and religious bigotry that led to its adoption in Oregon in the 1930s.Monday, April 20, 2020

A man who hijacked a Dallas-area bus before being killed in a shootout had been wanted for questioning in the fatal stabbing of his girlfriend, authorities said.

Ramon Thomas Villagomez, 31, got on the Dallas Area Rapid Transit bus with two people aboard in Richardson, just north of Dallas, at around 11 a.m. Sunday and opened fire, shattering windows, DART officials said.Monday, April 20, 2020

Stories with gay and transgender themes, a spoof inspired by the family rabbit of Vice President Mike Pence, and classics by J.K. Rowling and Margaret Atwood were among the books that received the most objections last year at schools and libraries.Monday, April 20, 2020

Canadians on Monday mourned the shocking rampage that left 18 dead in rural communities across Nova Scotia, after a gunman disguised as a police officer opened fire on people hunkered down in their homes, setting houses ablaze in the deadliest mass shooting in the country’s history.

Officials said the suspect, identified as 51-year-old Gabriel Wortman, was also among the dead in the weekend attack. Police did not provide a motive for the killings.

Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said the gunman killed at least 18 people during the 12-hour rampage over a large swath of northern Nova Scotia.Monday, April 20, 2020

Five northern Illinois mayors have asked Gov. J.B. Pritzker for the authority to reopen businesses next month, urging local control over restrictions and “common sense modifications” to a statewide stay-at-home order during the coronavirus pandemic.

Pritzker has said he’s continually evaluating an extension of the order, which expires April 30, as other states have done.Monday, April 20, 2020

After insisting it was up to governors to ramp up coronavirus testing in their states, the Trump administration is finally acknowledging their pleas for help.

Vice President Mike Pence will lead a teleconference with the nation’s governors Monday morning from FEMA headquarters in response to calls for a national testing strategy to help secure in-demand supplies like testing swabs and chemical reagents — a day after Trump announced that he would be using the Defense Production Act to compel one company to manufacture swabs.Monday, April 20, 2020

The coronavirus death toll in New York dropped again, a sign that Gov. Andrew Cuomo said Sunday means the state is “on the other side of the plateau“ and that ongoing social distancing practices are working to stem the spread of the virus.

Cuomo said 507 people died on Saturday, down 33 from the previous day and by 271 since last Monday. Other indicators were going in the right direction, the governor said. Hospitalizations were down by more than 750, to 16,213.Monday, April 20, 2020

Ten years after a well blew wild under a BP platform in the Gulf of Mexico, killing 11 men and touching off the nation’s worst offshore oil spill, gulf waters sparkle in the sunlight, its fish are safe to eat, and thick, black oil no longer visibly stains the beaches and estuaries. Brown pelicans, a symbol of the spill’s ecological damage because so many dived after fish and came up coated with oil, are doing well.

But scientists who spent the decade studying the Deepwater Horizon spill still worry about its effects on dolphins, whales, sea turtles, small fish vital to the food chain, and ancient corals in the cold, dark depths.Monday, April 20, 2020

HELENA, Mont. (AP) — With schools closed and teachers unable to report suspected cases of abuse and neglect, child welfare agencies have lost some of their best eyes and ears during a stressful time for families who have lost jobs and are locked down together during the coronavirus pandemic.Saturday, April 18, 2020

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (AP) — The weathered old sign that once served as a beacon to travelers along a stretch of Route 66 just outside of New Mexico’s largest city has been taken down and will be preserved as part of an initiative to build a visitor center dedicated to the historic roadway, officials said Friday.Saturday, April 18, 2020

WASHINGTON — As the food and agriculture industries experience significant disruptions due to the global COVID-19 pandemic, the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) today released initial details for a $19 billion emergency aid package to support farmers and ranchers and bolster food security.Saturday, April 18, 2020

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump’s former lawyer and longtime fixer Michael Cohen will be released from federal prison to serve the remainder of his sentence in home confinement because of the coronavirus pandemic, a person familiar with the matter told The Associated Press.Friday, April 17, 2020

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump has given governors a road map for recovering from the economic pain of the coronavirus pandemic, laying out “a phased and deliberate approach” to restoring normal activity in places that have strong testing and are seeing a decrease in COVID-19 cases.Friday, April 17, 2020

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Trump administration has issued new guidelines for states, individuals and employers on how to gradually revive activity and ease up on social distancing in areas where coronavirus cases are on the decline.Friday, April 17, 2020

WASHINGTON (AP) — Lawmakers are struggling to break a stalemate over President Donald Trump’s $250 billion emergency request for a small-business program, stoking uncertainty about when additional support will be available in a key rescue program now exhausted of funds.Friday, April 17, 2020

(THE CONVERSATION via AP) — Like a lot of people, we here at The Conversation are facing ethical decisions about our daily life as a result of the coronavirus. Here, Lee McIntyre, an ethicist answers some of our editors' queries. If you have a question you'd like an expert to answer, send it to us at ethicalquestions@theconversation.comFriday, April 17, 2020

NITRO, W.Va. (AP) — The sweet peppers were picked over, the tomatoes were taken and the flowers were fixing to be next. The empty spots on the store’s display were starting to outnumber the full ones.Friday, April 17, 2020

The government’s paycheck protection loan program for small businesses is on hold. The Small Business Administration said Thursday that it reached the $349 billion lending limit for the program.Thursday, April 16, 2020

More than 100 tornadoes struck the South in the two-day outbreak that killed more than 30 people this week, the National Weather Service said.

Forecast teams checking for damage found 105 storm tracks that totaled more than 770 miles in all. The worst storm was an EF-4 tornado that was on the ground for nearly 68 miles and claimed seven lives in southeastern Mississippi, a report showed.Thursday, April 16, 2020

The wave of layoffs that has engulfed the U.S. economy since the coronavirus struck forced 5.2 million more people to seek unemployment benefits last week, the government reported today.

Roughly 22 million have now sought jobless benefits in the past month — easily the worst stretch of U.S. job losses on record. It means that roughly one in seven workers have lost their jobs in that time.Thursday, April 16, 2020

The recent Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommendation to use cloth face coverings to help slow the spread of COVID-19 has generated numerous how-to articles and videos. As academics who focus on personal protective equipment (PPE) research and development, we are concerned about the lack of information about two critical features of home mask design: fit and fabric selection.Thursday, April 16, 2020

The major banks in the U.S. are anticipating a flood of loan defaults as households and business customers take a big financial hit from the coronavirus pandemic.

JPMorgan Chase, Wells Fargo, Bank of America, Citigroup and Goldman Sachs raised the funds set aside for bad loans by nearly $20 billion combined in the first quarter, earnings reports released over the past two days show. And Wall Street expects that figure may go even higher next quarter, a possibility bank executives acknowledged on earnings conference calls.Wednesday, April 15, 2020

The U.S. military is bracing for a months-long struggle against the coronavirus, looking for novel ways to maintain a defensive crouch that sustains troops’ health without breaking their morale — while still protecting the nation.

Unlike talk in the Trump administration of possibly reopening the country as early as May, military leaders are suggesting that this summer may be the best-case scenario of tiptoeing toward a return to normal activities. Even that is uncertain, and for now the focus is on adjusting as the pandemic’s threat evolves.Wednesday, April 15, 2020

In the six days after top Chinese officials secretly determined they likely were facing a pandemic from a new coronavirus, the city of Wuhan at the epicenter of the disease hosted a mass banquet for tens of thousands of people; millions began traveling through for Lunar New Year celebrations.

President Xi Jinping warned the public on the seventh day, Jan. 20. But by that time, more than 3,000 people had been infected during almost a week of public silence, according to internal documents obtained by The Associated Press and expert estimates based on retrospective infection data.Wednesday, April 15, 2020

A team of retirees that scours the remote ravines and windswept plains of the Pacific Northwest for long-forgotten pioneer orchards has rediscovered 10 apple varieties that were believed to be extinct — the largest number ever unearthed in a single season by the nonprofit Lost Apple Project.Wednesday, April 15, 2020

The nation’s two largest rivers top a new listing of the most endangered waterways, according to a report released Tuesday.

The Washington, D.C.-based conservation organization American Rivers released its list of the 10 most endangered rivers in the United States. The Upper Mississippi River in Minnesota, Wisconsin, Iowa, Illinois and Missouri was cited as the most endangered, followed by the lower Missouri River in Kansas, Nebraska, Iowa and Missouri.Wednesday, April 15, 2020

New York’s coronavirus death toll topped 10,000 and the worldwide number of confirmed cases hovered around 2 million on Monday, even as the lack of fresh hot spots globally yielded a ray of optimism and fueled discussions about how some places might begin to reopen.Tuesday, April 14, 2020

The $2.2 trillion federal rescue package could fail to deliver badly needed financial aid to thousands of smaller cities and counties where a majority of Americans live, according to documents and interviews with local officials.

The coronavirus outbreak has blown holes in the budgets of communities as the costs of battling the outbreak skyrocket and critical sources of revenue like sales and income taxes plummet.Tuesday, April 14, 2020

In deeply conservative eastern Washington state, a prominent state lawmaker kicked out of his Republican Party caucus labels the coronavirus as a foreign bio-weapon, accuses Marxists of using the pandemic to advance totalitarianism and rails against lockdown restrictions imposed by the Democratic governor.Tuesday, April 14, 2020

Some massive meat processing plants have closed at least temporarily because their workers were sickened by the new coronavirus, raising concerns that there could soon be shortages of beef, pork and poultry in supermarkets.Tuesday, April 14, 2020

Interstates and city streets are empty and cars are quarantined in their owners’ garages, so consumer advocates argue that it only makes sense for auto insurance rates to reflect that.

In the states of Washington and New York, the number of traffic crashes reported to state police fell about 30% in March compared with a year ago, as the states were on lockdown for part of the month to stop the spread of coronavirus.Tuesday, April 14, 2020

President Donald Trump asserted today that he is the ultimate decision-maker for determining how and when to relax the nation’s social distancing guidelines as he grows anxious to reopen the coronavirus-stricken country as soon as possible.Monday, April 13, 2020